Get help now — free helplines

You can call any of these for free. You do not need a diagnosis, an appointment, or a crisis to call — questions and plain exhaustion are reasons enough.

  • Alzheimer's Association 24/7 Helpline 800-272-3900 24 hours a day, 365 days a year Free, confidential support and information for people with dementia, caregivers, families and the public. Master's-level clinicians. Also Spanish.
  • 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline 988 24/7 Call or text 988, or chat at 988lifeline.org. For anyone in emotional distress or a mental-health crisis, including caregivers.
  • Alzheimer's Foundation of America (AFA) Helpline 866-232-8484 9:00 am - 9:00 pm ET, seven days a week Licensed social workers providing support, info and referrals. Also text message and web chat. Text: 646-586-5283

In a medical emergency, call 911. More numbers, and what each line does, on the help page.

Newest in this topic

  1. The Gut–Liver–Brain Axis in Neurodegeneration: Unraveling Metabolic–Immune Crosstalk from Peripheral Sensing to Central Vulnerability 2026-10-08
  2. The microbiota-gut-brain axis in mental and neurodegenerative disorders: opportunities for prevention and intervention 2025-10-01
  3. Microbiota-gut-brain axis in neurodegenerative diseases: molecular mechanisms and therapeutic targets 2025-09-15

Studies

100 studies carry this tag.

Date range

1995 to 2026

Top journals

  • Journal of neuroinflammation 4
  • Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology 3
  • Frontiers in immunology 3
  • Nutrients 3
  • AIMS microbiology 2

86 journals in all.

Newest first, then by address. Each study has a usefulness score out of 100 (rubric version 4.0); tap a score to see what makes it up. Tags were assigned automatically from each study's title and summary. The same studies as a filter in the library.

  1. The Gut-Brain Axis: How Microbiota and Host Inflammasome Influence Brain Physiology and Pathology

    ✓ Peer-reviewed alzhub usefulness score 41 out of 100. Frontiers in immunology 2020-12-10 Inflammation and the immune system

    The human microbiota has a fundamental role in host physiology and pathology.

  2. Metabolomics analysis of microbiota-gut-brain axis in neurodegenerative and psychiatric diseases

    ✓ Peer-reviewed alzhub usefulness score 41 out of 100. Journal of pharmaceutical and biomedical analysis 2020-11-21 Disease mechanisms

    Gut microbiota represents a complex physiological ecosystem that influences the host health.

  3. Sex Differences in the Gut-Brain Axis: Implications for Mental Health

    ✓ Peer-reviewed alzhub usefulness score 39 out of 100. Current psychiatry reports 2020-11-20 Disease mechanisms

    The purpose of this article is to highlight how sex differences in the gut-brain axis may contribute to the discrepancies in incidence of neurodevelopmental, psychiatric, and neurodegenerative disorders between females and males.

  4. Associations between gut microbiota and Alzheimer's disease, major depressive disorder, and schizophrenia

    ✓ Peer-reviewed alzhub usefulness score 41 out of 100. Journal of neuroinflammation 2020-10-02 Genetics

    These data for the first time provide evidence of potential causal links between gut microbiome and AD, MDD, and SCZ.

  5. The Intestinal Barrier and Current Techniques for the Assessment of Gut Permeability

    ✓ Peer-reviewed alzhub usefulness score 41 out of 100. Cells 2020-08-17 Disease mechanisms

    The intestinal barrier is essential in human health and constitutes the interface between the outside and the internal milieu of the body.

  6. The Microbiome as a Modifier of Neurodegenerative Disease Risk

    ✓ Peer-reviewed alzhub usefulness score 38 out of 100. Cell host & microbe 2020-08-01 Disease mechanisms

    The gut microbiome is increasingly implicated in modifying susceptibility to and progression of neurodegenerative diseases (NDs).

  7. Inflammatory bowel disease is associated with higher dementia risk: a nationwide longitudinal study

    ✓ Peer-reviewed alzhub usefulness score 69 out of 100. Gut 2020-06-23 Disease mechanisms

    This population-based cohort study demonstrates significant association between IBD and subsequent development of dementia.

  8. Opioid system influences gut-brain axis: Dysbiosis and related alterations

    ✓ Peer-reviewed alzhub usefulness score 39 out of 100. Pharmacological research 2020-06-03 Disease mechanisms

    Opioid drugs are widely used to treat chronic pain, but their misuse can lead to tolerance, dependence, and addiction and have created a significant public health problem.

  9. Microbiota-gut-brain axis in health and disease: Is NLRP3 inflammasome at the crossroads of microbiota-gut-brain communications?

    ✓ Peer-reviewed alzhub usefulness score 38 out of 100. Progress in neurobiology 2020-05-28 Disease mechanisms

    Growing evidence highlights the relevance of microbiota-gut-brain axis in the maintenance of brain homeostasis as well as in the pathophysiology of major neurological and psychiatric disorders, including Parkinson's disease (PD), Alzheimer's disease (AD), multiple sclerosis (MS), autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and major depressive disorder (MDD).

  10. The Role of the Gastrointestinal Mucus System in Intestinal Homeostasis: Implications for Neurological Disorders

    ✓ Peer-reviewed alzhub usefulness score 41 out of 100. Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology 2020-05-28 Disease mechanisms

    Mucus is integral to gut health and its properties may be affected in neurological disease.

  11. Fecal Microbiota Transplantation in Neurological Disorders

    ✓ Peer-reviewed alzhub usefulness score 48 out of 100. Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology 2020-03-24 Disease mechanisms

    Of 541 identified studies, 34 were included in the analysis.

  12. The progress of gut microbiome research related to brain disorders

    ✓ Peer-reviewed alzhub usefulness score 41 out of 100. Journal of neuroinflammation 2020-01-17 Disease mechanisms

    There is increasing evidence showing that the dynamic changes in the gut microbiota can alter brain physiology and behavior.

  13. Dysfunction of the Microbiota-Gut-Brain Axis in Neurodegenerative Disease: The Promise of Therapeutic Modulation With Prebiotics, Medicinal Herbs, Probiotics, and Synbiotics

    ✓ Peer-reviewed alzhub usefulness score 57 out of 100. Journal of Evidence-Based Integrative Medicine 2020-01-01 Disease mechanisms

    Recent data suggest gut microbiota dysbiosis as a contributing factor in neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson's Disease (PD) and Alzheimer's Disease (AD), and these pathologies may manifest via the microbiota-gut-brain-axis, which comprises bidirectional communication through neuroimmune, neuroendocrine, and direct neural pathways such as the vagus nerve.

  14. Healthy Gut, Healthy Brain: The Gut Microbiome in Neurodegenerative Disorders

    ✓ Peer-reviewed alzhub usefulness score 39 out of 100. Current topics in medicinal chemistry 2020 Disease mechanisms

    In the first part, we introduce the GBA and its relevance, followed by the changes occurring in the GBA during neurodegenerative disorders and then further discuss its role in the pathogenesis of these diseases.

  15. The microbiome-gut-brain axis in acute and chronic brain diseases

    ✓ Peer-reviewed alzhub usefulness score 39 out of 100. Current opinion in neurobiology 2019-12-06 Disease mechanisms

    The gut microbiome - the largest reservoir of microorganisms of the human body - is emerging as an important player in neurodevelopment and ageing as well as in brain diseases including stroke, Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease.

  16. Modification of the gut microbiome to combat neurodegeneration

    ✓ Peer-reviewed alzhub usefulness score 39 out of 100. Reviews in the neurosciences 2019-11-26 Disease mechanisms

    The gut microbiome was extensively researched for its biological variety and its potential role in propagating diseases outside of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract.

  17. The gut microbiome in neurological disorders

    ✓ Peer-reviewed alzhub usefulness score 55 out of 100. The Lancet. Neurology 2019-11-18 Disease mechanisms

    Research into the role of the gut microbiome in modulating brain function has rapidly increased over the past 10 years, albeit chiefly in animal models.

  18. Exercise, diet and stress as modulators of gut microbiota: Implications for neurodegenerative diseases

    ✓ Peer-reviewed alzhub usefulness score 38 out of 100. Neurobiology of disease 2019-10-16 Disease mechanisms

    The last decade has witnessed an exponentially growing interest in gut microbiota and the gut-brain axis in health and disease.

  19. The Microbiota-Gut-Brain Axis

    ✓ Peer-reviewed alzhub usefulness score 38 out of 100. Physiological reviews 2019-10-01 Risk factors

    The importance of the gut-brain axis in maintaining homeostasis has long been appreciated.

  20. Nutrition and immunology in mental health: Precision medicine and integrative approaches to address unmet clinical needs in psychiatric treatments

    ✓ Peer-reviewed alzhub usefulness score 46 out of 100. Brain, behavior, and immunity 2019-09-27 Prevention and risk

    The 'monoamine hypothesis' is insufficient in approaching the aetiology of psychiatric disorders or in developing novel therapies.

  21. The endotoxin hypothesis of neurodegeneration

    ✓ Peer-reviewed alzhub usefulness score 41 out of 100. Journal of neuroinflammation 2019-09-13 Disease mechanisms

    The endotoxin hypothesis of neurodegeneration is the hypothesis that endotoxin causes or contributes to neurodegeneration.

  22. Microorganisms, Tryptophan Metabolism, and Kynurenine Pathway: A Complex Interconnected Loop Influencing Human Health Status

    ✓ Peer-reviewed alzhub usefulness score 41 out of 100. International journal of tryptophan research : IJTR 2019-06-19 Disease mechanisms

    The kynurenine pathway is important in cellular energy generation and limiting cellular ageing as it degrades about 90% of dietary tryptophan into the essential co-factor NAD + (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide).

  23. Psychobiotics in mental health, neurodegenerative and neurodevelopmental disorders

    ✓ Peer-reviewed alzhub usefulness score 41 out of 100. Journal of food and drug analysis 2019-02-10 Disease mechanisms

    Psychobiotics are a group of probiotics that affect the central nervous system (CNS) related functions and behaviors mediated by the gut-brain-axis (GBA) via immune, humoral, neural, and metabolic pathways to improve not only the gastrointestinal (GI) function but also the antidepressant and anxiolytic capacity.

  24. The role of the gut microbiota in development, function and disorders of the central nervous system and the enteric nervous system

    ✓ Peer-reviewed alzhub usefulness score 38 out of 100. Journal of neuroendocrinology 2019-02-01 Disease mechanisms

    The gut microbiota has emerged as an environmental factor that modulates the development of the central nervous system (CNS) and the enteric nervous system (ENS).

  25. The ketogenic diet influences taxonomic and functional composition of the gut microbiota in children with severe epilepsy

    ✓ Peer-reviewed alzhub usefulness score 41 out of 100. NPJ biofilms and microbiomes 2019-01-23 Disease mechanisms

    The gut microbiota has been linked to various neurological disorders via the gut-brain axis.

  26. Gut microbiota in neurodegenerative disorders

    ✓ Peer-reviewed alzhub usefulness score 38 out of 100. Journal of neuroimmunology 2019-01-09 Disease mechanisms

    Gut dysbiosis, a primary factor behind various gastrointestinal disorders may also augment lipopolysaccharides, pro-inflammatory cytokines, T helper cells and monocytes causing increased intestinal and BBB permeability via microbiota-gut-brain axis.

  27. Oxidative Stress and the Microbiota-Gut-Brain Axis

    ✓ Peer-reviewed alzhub usefulness score 41 out of 100. Oxidative medicine and cellular longevity 2018-12-09 Disease mechanisms

    The gut-brain axis is increasingly recognized as an important pathway of communication and of physiological regulation, and gut microbiota seems to play a significant role in this mutual relationship.

  28. Unhealthy gut, unhealthy brain: The role of the intestinal microbiota in neurodegenerative diseases

    ✓ Peer-reviewed alzhub usefulness score 38 out of 100. Neurochemistry international 2018-08-14 Disease mechanisms

    The number of bacterial cells living within the human body is approximately equal to, or greater than, the total number of human cells.

  29. Changes of Colonic Bacterial Composition in Parkinson's Disease and Other Neurodegenerative Diseases

    ✓ Peer-reviewed alzhub usefulness score 55 out of 100. Nutrients 2018-06-01 Disease mechanisms

    In recent years evidence has emerged that neurodegenerative diseases (NDs) are strongly associated with the microbiome composition in the gut.

  30. Interplay among gut microbiota, intestinal mucosal barrier and enteric neuro-immune system: a common path to neurodegenerative diseases?

    ✓ Peer-reviewed alzhub usefulness score 41 out of 100. Acta neuropathologica 2018-05-24 Disease mechanisms

    Neurological diseases, such as Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and multiple sclerosis, are often associated with functional gastrointestinal disorders.

  31. Frailty and the gut

    ✓ Peer-reviewed alzhub usefulness score 39 out of 100. Digestive and liver disease : official journal of the Italian Society of Gastroenterology and the Italian Association for the Study of the Liver 2018-03-16 Disease mechanisms

    Frailty, which is a syndrome that encompasses losses in physical, psychological and social domains, is responsible for enhanced vulnerability to endogenous and/or exogenous stressors.

  32. Parkinson's disease from the gut

    ✓ Peer-reviewed alzhub usefulness score 38 out of 100. Brain research 2018-01-31 Disease mechanisms

    Parkinson's disease (PD) is a debilitating neurodegenerative condition associated with tremor, rigidity, dementia, and gastrointestinal symptoms such as constipation, nausea and vomiting.

  33. Gut-brain Axis: Role of Lipids in the Regulation of Inflammation, Pain and CNS Diseases

    ✓ Peer-reviewed alzhub usefulness score 38 out of 100. Current medicinal chemistry 2018-01-01 Disease mechanisms

    The human gut is a composite anaerobic environment with a large, diverse and dynamic enteric microbiota, represented by more than 100 trillion microorganisms, including at least 1000 distinct species.

  34. Microbiota Signaling Pathways that Influence Neurologic Disease

    ✓ Peer-reviewed alzhub usefulness score 38 out of 100. Neurotherapeutics : the journal of the American Society for Experimental NeuroTherapeutics 2018-01-01 Disease mechanisms

    Though seemingly distinct and autonomous, emerging evidence suggests there is a bidirectional interaction between the intestinal microbiota and the brain.

  35. Microbiota-Brain-Gut Axis and Neurodegenerative Diseases

    ✓ Peer-reviewed alzhub usefulness score 39 out of 100. Current neurology and neuroscience reports 2017-10-17 Disease mechanisms

    The purposes of this review were as follows: first, to provide an overview of the gut microbiota and its interactions with the gut and the central nervous system (the microbiota-gut-brain axis) in health, second, to review the relevance of this axis to the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson's disease, and, finally, to assess the potential for microbiota-targeted therapies.

  36. The Gut Microbial Metabolite Trimethylamine-N-Oxide Is Present in Human Cerebrospinal Fluid

    ✓ Peer-reviewed alzhub usefulness score 48 out of 100. Nutrients 2017-09-22 Disease mechanisms

    -oxide (TMAO) is a small organic molecule, derived from the intestinal and hepatic metabolism of dietary choline and carnitine.

  37. Recent developments in understanding the role of the gut microbiota in brain health and disease

    ✓ Peer-reviewed alzhub usefulness score 38 out of 100. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 2017-08-02 Disease mechanisms

    There is a growing appreciation of the role of the gut microbiota in all aspects of health and disease, including brain health.

  38. Microbiome, probiotics and neurodegenerative diseases: deciphering the gut brain axis

    ✓ Peer-reviewed alzhub usefulness score 38 out of 100. Cellular and molecular life sciences : CMLS 2017-06-22 Disease mechanisms

    The gut microbiota is essential to health and has recently become a target for live bacterial cell biotherapies for various chronic diseases including metabolic syndrome, diabetes, obesity and neurodegenerative disease.

  39. Microbiota-gut-brain axis and the central nervous system

    ✓ Peer-reviewed alzhub usefulness score 41 out of 100. Oncotarget 2017-05-10 Disease mechanisms

    The gut and brain form the gut-brain axis through bidirectional nervous, endocrine, and immune communications.

  40. The gut microbiome in human neurological disease: A review

    ✓ Peer-reviewed alzhub usefulness score 41 out of 100. Annals of neurology 2017-03-20 Disease mechanisms

    Almost half the cells and 1% of the unique genes found in our bodies are human, the rest are from microbes, predominantly bacteria, archaea, fungi, and viruses.

  41. Gut microbiota: Implications in Parkinson's disease

    ✓ Peer-reviewed alzhub usefulness score 41 out of 100. Parkinsonism & related disorders 2017-02-07 Disease mechanisms

    Gut microbiota (GM) can influence various neurological outcomes, like cognition, learning, and memory.

  42. Interactions between the microbiota, immune and nervous systems in health and disease

    ✓ Peer-reviewed alzhub usefulness score 41 out of 100. Nature neuroscience 2017-01-16 Risk factors

    The diverse collection of microorganisms that inhabit the gastrointestinal tract, collectively called the gut microbiota, profoundly influences many aspects of host physiology, including nutrient metabolism, resistance to infection and immune system development.

  43. The Gut-Brain Axis, BDNF, NMDA and CNS Disorders

    ✓ Peer-reviewed alzhub usefulness score 36 out of 100. Neurochemical research 2016-08-23 Disease mechanisms

    Gastro-intestinal (GI) microbiota and the 'gut-brain axis' are proving to be increasingly relevant to early brain development and the emergence of psychiatric disorders.

  44. The bowel and beyond: the enteric nervous system in neurological disorders

    ✓ Peer-reviewed alzhub usefulness score 36 out of 100. Nature reviews. Gastroenterology & hepatology 2016-07-20 Disease mechanisms

    The enteric nervous system (ENS) is large, complex and uniquely able to orchestrate gastrointestinal behaviour independently of the central nervous system (CNS).

  45. Irritable Bowel Syndrome Is Associated with an Increased Risk of Dementia: A Nationwide Population-Based Study

    ✓ Peer-reviewed alzhub usefulness score 53 out of 100. PloS one 2016-01-05 Digital health tools

    IBS is associated with an increased risk of dementia, and this effect is obvious only in patients who are ≥50 years old.

  46. Gut microbiota in autism and mood disorders

    ✓ Peer-reviewed alzhub usefulness score 36 out of 100. World journal of gastroenterology 2016-01-01 Disease mechanisms

    The hypothesis of an important role of gut microbiota in the maintenance of physiological state into the gastrointestinal (GI) system is supported by several studies that have shown a qualitative and quantitative alteration of the intestinal flora in a number of gastrointestinal and extra-gastrointestinal diseases.

  47. Gut microbiome in health and disease: Linking the microbiome-gut-brain axis and environmental factors in the pathogenesis of systemic and neurodegenerative diseases

    ✓ Peer-reviewed alzhub usefulness score 36 out of 100. Pharmacology & therapeutics 2015-11-26 Disease mechanisms

    The gut microbiome comprises the collective genome of the trillions of microorganisms residing in our gastrointestinal ecosystem.

  48. Maternal immune activation and abnormal brain development across CNS disorders

    ✓ Peer-reviewed alzhub usefulness score 36 out of 100. Nature reviews. Neurology 2014-10-14 Inflammation and the immune system

    Epidemiological studies have shown a clear association between maternal infection and schizophrenia or autism in the progeny.

  49. Twenty years of research on cytokine-induced sickness behavior

    ✓ Peer-reviewed alzhub usefulness score 36 out of 100. Brain, behavior, and immunity 2006-11-07 Risk factors

    Cytokine-induced sickness behavior was recognized within a few years of the cloning and expression of interferon-alpha, IL-1 and IL-2, which occurred around the time that the first issue of Brain, Behavior, and Immunity was published in 1987.

  50. Corticotropin-releasing factor receptors: physiology, pharmacology, biochemistry and role in central nervous system and immune disorders

    ✓ Peer-reviewed alzhub usefulness score 36 out of 100. Psychoneuroendocrinology 1995-01-01 Disease mechanisms

    In addition to a physiological role for CRF in integrating the responses of the brain, endocrine and immune systems to physiological, psychological and immunological stimuli, recent clinical data implicate CRF in the etiology and pathophysiology of various endocrine, psychiatric, neurologic and inflammatory illnesses.

From across this tag

6 of the 100 studies in this tag, picked by a fixed rule (a hash of each study's address), not by score or date; each page of this list shows a different 6. The same 6 appear here every time.

All topic tags with their study counts